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The United States is 50 years behind on its critical mineral supply chain, particularly in comparison to China.
Mariana Minerals has a goal to build 10 projects within the next 10 years.
Heron Power is building solid-state transformers that use silicon and software to replace traditional steel, oil, and copper components in power conversion systems for data centers, solar, and battery projects.
The world's leading producer of silicon carbide, a key power semiconductor, is based in the United States.
Mariana Minerals operates as a software-first company focused on minerals mining and refining, with approximately 25% of its employees being software and machine learning engineers.
Mariana Minerals is developing three core operating systems: Capital Project OS for agentic workflow automation, PlantOS for reinforcement learning-based refinery control, and MineOS for autonomous mining control.
Mariana Minerals is currently operating a copper mine in southeast Utah and is building a lithium refinery in Texas.
In the United States, a new minerals project can take five years to build and an additional three to five years to reach its full operational rate after being permitted.
The systems underpinning the U.S. electrical grid are largely based on mechanical systems technology that is over 100 years old.
Most suppliers of critical U.S. grid equipment are headquartered overseas.
The Tesla Megapack factory in Lathrop, California, was built in a former JCPenney warehouse and took 11 months from the start of construction to the first product coming off the line.
In modern automated factories, the labor cost differential between China and the U.S. accounts for less than 10% of the cost of goods sold, and potentially less than 5%.